Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

Working in a quiet museum, in love with her happily married boss, and yearning to be a mother, lonely thirty-something Eira finds a baby in a box on the museum steps, an experience that leads her back to a childhood summer that changed her life forever and to the realization that she must come to terms with the past in order to find love in the present. Reader's Guide included. Original. 10,000 first printing.

Review

"Ten-year-old, bespectacled Eira Morgan is burdened with both an eye patch and a charismatic, exotic older half-sister, Phyllis. Along with their asthmatic younger brother, David, the sisters spend a transformative summer in the English countryside with Aunt Maggie and Uncle Huw while their parents study birds in Fiji. Davies's uneven second novel (after The Madness of Love) cuts back and forth between that summer and Eira's lonely present: she's 36, lives by herself, pines for her married boss at the museum where she works and fantasizes about getting married and having a baby. One day she discovers an abandoned baby in a box on the museum's steps and delivers the foundling to the nearest hospital  then finds herself bereft and flashing back to the summer when she discovered anorexic Phyllis was having an affair with Aunt Maggie and Uncle Huw's boarder, Edward Furnace. Phyllis, of course, becomes pregnant, and things end tragically after Eira interferes. The flashbacks are satisfying and lushly atmospheric, but the adult Eira plot lacks momentum, and she amounts to little more than her description of herself as 'the sad woman with the green dress and the bright red lips.'" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Synopsis

From the winner of the 2005 Romantic Novel of the Year Award comes a heart-rending, evocative story of childhood discovery and disillusionment. It is a poignant and vivid exploration of a womans childhood experience and her visceral need to be a mother.

Synopsis

Eira is a thirty-six and childless. She's in love with her boss- who is happily married- and she's desperate to be a mother. One morning, she finds an abandoned baby on the doorstep of the museum where she works and fantasizes about keeping it- but ultimately brings it to the local hospital. This experience sends her back to the summer she is ten years old- a precocious little girl in the country staying with her asthmatic younger brother and her moody, older, half-sister, Phyllis. Phyllis is involved in a dangerous game of passion to which Eira is irresistibly drawn. But it's too much for one little girl to handle, and Eira is forced to grapple with secretsof a tragedy that threaten to change the course of their lives forever. Now, Eira must come to terms with the past in order to invite healing and love into her life, perhaps for the first time.

Synopsis

One morning, 36-year-old Eira finds an abandoned baby on the doorstep of the museum where she works and fantasizes about keeping it--but ultimately brings it to the local hospital. The experience shows her she must come to terms with the past in order to invite healing and love into her life for the first time.

About the Author

KATHARINE DAVIES grew up in Warwickshire and studied English and drama at the University of London. She taught English for several years, including a period in Sri Lanka, before receiving an M.A. in creative writing. The Madness of Love is her first novel, and she is currently at work on her second.

Reading Group Guide

1. Hush, Little Baby is told from the perspective of a woman at different

times in her life: as a young child, an adolescent, and an

adult woman. To whom do you relate the most, and why?

2. Eira, the main character in the novel, has fallen in love with her

married boss. Is it clear whether or not he also has feelings for her?

Is his treatment of her romantic or platonic? How do Eiras own

feelings influence her interpretations of his actions? Have you ever

fallen in love with someone who was already attached to someone

else?

3. How do seasons and nature figure in the story? Is there any connection

between the events in the book and the time of year during

which they occur? Do the seasons affect the way you think about

yourself and your life?

4. How realistically does Hush, Little Baby portray a single

womans desire for a child?

5. What advice would you have given Eira if she had been your

friend and confessed to finding a baby in a basket?

6. Maude, the librarian at Priestmeadow, tells Eira a story about a

young woman who lost a child in a dramatic and frightening way

one hundred years earlier. Do you think Eira is old enough at the

time to hear this story? Have you ever heard a story you wish you

hadnt? If yes, was timing a reason you wish you hadnt heard the

story?

7. If you knew a terrible secret about a sibling or someone else

very close to you, and you had promised not to tell anyone about it

and yet feared for his or her life, would you break your promise or

keep it forever? Why or why not?

8. Who does Phyllis, Eiras older sister, really love, and why do

you think so?

9. Why do you think Eira chooses to return to Priestmeadow as an

adult? Have you ever brought a new friend or lover to visit an

emotionally charged place from your childhood, and if so, what

was the result?

10. Eira is a solitary figure throughout most of the book. At the

end, do you think she s found love, or that she will find love? Why

or why not?

11. Do you think that having children, or forming a family, is an

antidote to loneliness? Do you think most women believe that they

will feel fulfilled if they can have a child and a family?

12. What influences from Eiras life might have given her the attitude

she has about her childlessness, and how many of her worries

have to do with her age?

13. If you could change one major character or plot element in the

book in order to create a different ending, what would it be, and

why?

Author Q&A

RANDOM HOUSE: Hush, Little Baby is deeper and more serious than

your previous novel, The Madness of Love, yet it retains a similar

mythical, dreamlike quality. Is this characteristic conscious or unconscious?

KATHARINE DAVIES: I think it is unconscious; it may come from my

experience of the world and my particular way of seeing things,

and also perhaps from the way that I work, which is often through

writing poetry. The opening of Hush, Little Baby began as a poem

written at the very beginning of the spring, although I later cut out

quite a lot of the images to give a greater feeling of momentum at

the start of the novel. There is a section later in the book that

comes directly from a poem I had written, too. This is the poem—

I’m sure you can relate it to the relevant part of the book.

MOTHS

The moths returned.

They laid their eggs in dust.

They came in the aftermath.

They floated ghostly through kicked-in doors,

they rested on the edges of dents in the walls,

they flickered in the empty grate.

They were indiscriminate:

they flew from drawers;

they didn’t distinguish mine from yours.

They issued, dazed, from the pages of books.

They were fragile flinders,

they masqueraded

as splinters, as smithereens.

I killed them without qualm.

In my palm they were nothing.

Brittle carcasses. Dust.

But you could not.

When I left I thought of how they would seize their chance

to feast in your shirts undisturbed.

I thought of the tiny opening and shutting of their wings.

Of the closing of a door.

Of the extinguishing of lights.

Of the brush of your fingers,

like moths settling and then taking flight.

RH: Do you write short stories as well?

KD: Yes, but I would like to do so more often—I think they are the

most difficult form to write in, but they can be tremendous. I often

read them. One short-story writer I love to read is Lorrie Moore. I

find her story Terrific Mother extraordinarily moving and funny at

the same time. The subject matter of that story is not a million

miles away from Hush, Little Baby.

RH: Sometimes, after finishing a novel, the author mentions that

she will never really feel as though it is completed, but just as

often, a writer will say that she couldn’t possibly imagine adding

another scene or word. Does Hush, Little Baby fall into one of

these categories? If so, can you say a little bit about why?

KD: When I wrote the last chapter of Hush, Little Baby, I knew,

quite passionately, that I would never want to change a word of it,

especially the final sentences. But I felt that way about the ending

of The Madness of Love, too. I found that the endings of both these

books took me by surprise and almost wrote themselves. In both

cases, I found myself thinking, Ah! So this is how it ends!

RH: Many writers try to read other works that touch on topics similar

to those in their own writing, while others swear that they have

to stay away from anything that reminds them of their own work.

Do you fall into one these groups, and if so, why?

KD: I think the things I want to read about and write about are

often similar, but they are very universal subjects—love and relationships

and “being human”—so I don’t avoid reading anything

particularly. Perhaps if I were in the middle of writing a book I

wouldn’t read one that was about exactly the same subject matter.

However, I did read one or two books that were somewhat related

to mine. For example, I reread George Eliot’s Adam Bede, which

contains the story of poor Hetty Sorrel and her illegitimate baby.

RH: How do you determine how much research is necessary to

your work, and how much of it is just a story that comes to you

with no need for background research?

KD: I find research quite difficult to do and am much happier

working from my own thoughts and imagination. I think research

can become never-ending, with each new discovery resulting in

another bit of research. Even though this can be fascinating to do,

and can result in wonderful novels, I personally often end up using

only a fraction of any research I have done. I think you also have

to be careful that it doesn’t become an inhibiting factor—if you

are basing a story on fact, or merging fact and fiction, it can be

hard to make decisions about what to keep the same and what to

change. If the whole thing is imaginary, then you are much more

liberated. That’s why I like using made-up places. Having said

this, I sometimes do research by visiting a location I want to include

in my book and then coming home and writing about it. I did

that with the chapter set in the London Butterfly House in Hush,

Little Baby. This is the most enjoyable kind of research because I

get to visit lots of new and interesting places or I revisit places I already

know and see them in a different light.

RH: How long did it take you to complete the first draft of Hush,

Little Baby? And how long was it from the original idea to the

completed book? How does this time line compare with that of The

Madness of Love?

KD: They probably took about the same amount of time, although

my first book was easier to write because the subject matter was

lighter and I always had Shakespeare ’s Twelfth Night to refer to, as

I was basing the book on the plot of the play. Funnily enough,

Hush, Little Baby was in my mind even before I wrote The Madness

of Love, so all the ideas were there; it was just a case of getting

it down on paper and working out how to do the shifts between the

adult and child perspectives.

RH: In addition to writing, you also teach. Do you find it difficult

to juggle your writing schedule with your work schedule? How

often do you write?

KD:When I am in the middle of a book, I write a thousand words

a day, every day, and I edit the writing from the previous day in the

evening, so I try to take breaks away from teaching to do this properly.

When I teach creative writing, though, I find it stimulating

because I get ideas from doing the exercises in class with my students

and I love the immediacy and freshness of new writing and

new ideas, which is all very inspiring. I think it is easier to juggle

my own writing schedule with teaching than with the deadlines

that come into play once you are in the editing and production

stage of a novel.

RH: What do you do when you get stuck on a plot issue? How do

you break through writer’s block?

KD: Strangely, I don’t really get writer’s block. But I always make

sure I go for lots of walks, as I hate sitting still at a desk for too

long and missing the whole day, especially when I am in the country.

I find the natural world endlessly inspiring and also soothing

when the writing is getting all too much.

RH: Do you think it’s important for readers to know anything personal about the author in order to better understand the content of a novel? Why or why not?

KD: It might be interesting, occasionally, for the reader to know

the personal circumstances of a writer, but the appreciation of the

work should never depend on it. It has to be remembered that an

author may not actually want to tell the reader their personal circumstances,

and that this is fair enough! I think there is far too

much pressure on writers to tell readers about their private lives.

Books should speak for themselves.

RH: What are two main themes you would like readers to take

away from having read Hush, Little Baby?

KD: First the experience of childlessness, and the fear of being

childless. I think the pain of this experience has formerly been

something that has not been spoken of very much. Another thing

that the book is about is the effect of our childhood on our subsequent